Greece’s Online Gambling Laws – is Poker Legal?

Online poker is legal in Greece for sites holding a Greek gaming permit, however with heavy taxes that came into effect Nov 22nd, 2013. Player to player (P2P) transfers are prohibited for Greek players.

Status of regulation: Regulated

Tax on Players: Player Withholding Tax (PWT) on e.g. PokerStars.gr is 15% on profits from €100.01 – €500 and 20% above. Taxes are taken automatically in the client.

Tax on Operators: 30%

Extra Rake: None

Segregation: None – Greek players share tables with players in other countries in the same combined playerpool.

Greece Poker Deposit & Cashout Methods

E-wallets Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) and Neteller are preferred by many grinders as they avoid fees and taxes associated with banks and gambling transactions, and don’t require you to share banking information with poker sites.

Greek Currency – Euro (EUR)

Is Greece in the PokerStars.com Playerpool?

Yes! As shown in the table above Greek players are not segregated from the rest of the international PokerStars playerpool (in the way e.g. France, Italy and Spain are).

The domain name is PokerStars.gr but the game experience is identical to the dot.com client, same players, stakes, deposit bonus, Supernova VIP program etc. Plan your yearly VPP goals with Rakeback.com’s exclusive PokerStars Rakeback Calculator.

Online Poker In Greece – Do I Need a VPN?

No. There is currently no internet censorship applied to online gambling sites in Greece, whether lottery, sports betting, casino or poker related. As such a VPN is not necessary. However if you experience difficulties downloading poker clients in the future or while travelling outside Greece, follow the guidelines below:

Other countries in Europe’s regulated online poker market may censor primary domains of poker rooms. While the poker site’s domain may be down, preventing new players from downloading the client, those who have already downloaded the software can still log in and play unrestricted. The sites are based offshore (e.g. Malta / Gibraltar) with EU licenses – balances and cashouts remain safe despite one country’s internet censorship.

If you are unable to download a poker client simply use a cheap VPN service such as StrongVPN or HideMyAss to do so. After install it is no longer necessary to use a VPN although some grinders continue to do so if playing over public wifi, for extra security. Site reps have confirmed on the forums that VPNs are not prohibited, with the exception of VPN use to play online from the US.

How Much Cash Back Will I Earn?

Rakeback increases your winnings from online poker as you continually earn money back from every raked hand or tournament you play.

Many players earn a living wage from rakeback alone. Use the calculator below to estimate the size of payments you’ll get over a given period of time. The calculator will compute your expected daily, weekly, and monthly cash back depending on the stakes and tables you input.

“I shouldn’t say this on a poker forum but sng 2.0 acr is about as free money as I’ve seen in poker in a long time. Not sure how long it’s going to last but right now as it’s new people r punting hard.”

Many of Rakeback.com’s partner sites offer Fast-Fold format poker tables. These high speed poker games eliminate the need for table selection and allow players to grind many more hands/hour thanks to a ‘quick fold’ option. This in turn boosts rakeback earnings.